As mentioned by Holm in Canadian Patent Specification No. 1172522, there have been many proposals for the provision of forward-facing rowing, the majority of which have been cumbersome, complicated or bizarre. Holm discloses an oar construction which includes overlapping inner and outer components pivotally connected to each other and a pivoting brace acting between a rear support post and the inner end of the outer oar component.
In British Patent Specification No. 342445 (Devienne) there is disclosed an oar arrangement for forward-facing rowing which comprises two coacting and separately pivoted members, one forming the handle and the other carrying a pivoted blade. The handle and blade are interconnected in such way that, when the oar and handle are in line, the maximum relative blade velocity is obtained.
A further oar arrangement permitting forward-facing rowing is described in British Patent Specification No. 2056930A (Witchell). In this arrangement, each oar has an inboard and outboard section the ends of which come together pivotally at a common zone of attachment to the boat and are mechanically interconnected so as to promote an opposite movement of the inboard section to that of the outboard section, the interconnection being in the form of two arms or links each connected to an oar section and themselves coming together at a pivot moving within a fixed channel attached to the gunwhale of the boat.
Although the oar arrangements described in these earlier specifications permit forward-facing rowing, the rowing action is of limited efficiency. Other forward facing rowing arrangements are shown in British Specifications Nos. 283411 (Kruse), 319059 (Baxter), 1426652 (Bosmorin) and 2213119 (Deutschmann), and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,381,923 (Kemp) and 3,729,369 (Trull). Trull also discloses an automatic feathering arrangement. A gear arrangement for the provision of forward-facing rowing is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,175 (Bellis). These other arrangements are also of limited efficiency.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a forward-facing oar arrangement which is more efficient than previous proposals.